Improving SunGard Higher Education Banner ROI through Job Stream Automation

Transcription

1 Improving SunGard Higher Education Banner ROI through Job Stream Automation Introduction SunGard Higher Education Banner is the only fully integrated, Oracle-based, Internet-native technology solution available today for the higher education community. Banner is the market-leading suite of software applications for student information, advancement, human resources, financial aid, faculty and advisors, finance, and more. However, you can significantly improve your ROI for Banner by automating batch processing and report generation, eliminating server overload, and improving output distribution. UC4 Software is a leading provider of enterprise scheduling products that have automated business applications, improved efficiency, and significantly reduced IT expenses for over 1,600 companies and educational institutions worldwide. When applied to SunGard Banner, UC4 automates Banner business processes, prevents server overload, and improves report generation and distribution. This white paper examines the enhancements UC4 brings to Banner, and explains why Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 is the best solution for providing these enhancements. If you have not yet purchased SunGard Banner, or are just starting a Banner implementation, we discuss at the end of this paper the benefits of early adoption of Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4. Copyright 2008 UC4 Software GmbH (UC4), all rights reserved. The materials in this publication are protected by copyright and/or other intellectual property laws. Any unauthorized use of the materials in this publication can result in an infringement of these laws. Unless expressly permitted, the copying of information or documents from this publication, in any form, without the prior written permission of UC4 is prohibited. SunGard Banner: Opportunities for Enhancement... 2 Automated Batch Processing and Report Generation... 2 Preventing Server Overload... 4 How the Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 Integration Works... 5 Benefits of Early Implementation... 5 Return on Your Investment in SunGard Banner... 6 SunGard Higher Education Collaborative Select Member... 6 Representative Customers

2 SunGard Banner: Opportunities for Enhancement When you purchased SunGard Higher Education Banner, your goal most likely was to automate recurring business processes such as administration and record keeping, while complying with state and federal reporting requirements. You probably purchased one or more of the following Banner solutions: - Banner Advancement - Banner Finance - Banner Financial Aid - Banner General - Banner Human Resources - Banner Student The level of automation provided by these solutions justified the cost, and was a great improvement over the manual procedures they replaced. However, if your experience is like that of many other educational institutions that have implemented Banner, you quickly became aware of the areas that could be enhanced: batch processing, report generation, load-levelling on servers, and output distribution. Most batch processing and report generation in Banner requires you to manually run a series of jobs in the correct order with the correct parameters. The parameters must be entered manually, a process that is always subject to error. The series of jobs required to run a batch process or report can be lengthy, with the user having to wait for one job to complete before running the next job in the sequence. The entire series of jobs can take a long period of time, sometimes hours, to complete. Errors often are not detected until the final report is produced, requiring a time-consuming rerun of the entire process. Banner does not include a scheduler. Typically each department in a college or university submits their own Banner jobs. Departments can choose to run the jobs at the same time, potentially overloading the servers. There is no way to centrally control the submission of jobs unless all jobs are run by the IT staff. The additional IT staffing required to run the jobs centrally is often too costly for academic institutions. Banner produces valuable reports, but has limited report distribution capabilities. While Banner does offer online viewing, Banner requires reports to be stored in a database table to be viewed. This is an "expensive" solution in terms of database resources. Other alternatives include transferring the report file to a desktop, then viewing and printing it from the desktop, or printing the output to a UNIX printer and physically distributing the report to the users. The next three sections in this white paper discuss how Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 enhances each of the areas described above: batch processing automation, centralized scheduling, and report distribution. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4: Automated Batch Processing and Report Generation While SunGard Banner solutions pay for themselves many times over, the most effective way to boost your ROI for Banner is to automate batch processing and report generation. Institutions that have automated these functions with Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 have benefited in the following ways: - A community college in the southeast estimated it could reduce processing time by over 80%. They were running six job streams that required 147 manual steps and at least 40 hours per week. After implementing Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, they estimated the same processes would require only 17 steps and a little over seven hours per week. Yearly savings were projected to be 1,700 hours a year. - At an eastern university, a letter generation process that once took a dedicated user two to three hours each day to run was fully automated. With Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, data is automatically pulled from the database each night, and Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 generates the letters without human intervention. - By using Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 to build and maintain job schedules, an IT department at a mid-western university had more time to concentrate on critical IT requests rather than deal with Banner job submissions from end-users. - A California university eliminated recovery costs associated with corrupt data caused by incorrect parameters being entered into the Banner system. The savings in recovery costs were, by themselves, sufficient to recoup the cost of Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4. 2

3 Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 brings more efficient processing to the key SunGard Banner processes including: - Government financial aid file processing - Transcript generation - Letter generation - Check processing - Student billing How Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 automates and streamlines each of these processes is described below. Government Financial Aid File Processing In the Financial Aid department, Banner users have to download government files that contain information about approved government student loans. After the download is completed successfully, the user has to manually run a number of Banner jobs to process the file. This is a frequent procedure, one that is labor intensive when done manually. Using Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, the entire process can be automated. In Financial Aid, Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 is particularly valuable when applied to the following areas that often require high levels of manual effort: - Disbursements - Award letter mailings - Ineligible letter mailings - Missing documentation letters - Pending letters - Originations - Loans Transcript Generation In Banner, transcript generation is a lengthy, labor-intensive process. The user must search for transcript requests, generate the transcripts, and then repeat the search later in the day. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 fully automates the process. It can be set to constantly monitor the database for transcript requests and generate them throughout the day, or to generate them in batches at set times of the day or night. Letter Generation In an academic institution, there are multiple types of letters that need to be generated. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 can automate the entire process by monitoring the Banner database and automatically determining what letters need to be printed. For example, in the Registrar's office, Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 can read Banner term codes and letter codes, then determine for each letter code which type of letter needs to be generated: acceptance, rejection, or incomplete information. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 runs the appropriate letter generations reports and sends the output files to a PC for merging, or to a third party printing product such as evisions that can completely automate the printing of the letters on school letterhead. Using Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, custom criteria can be applied to letter generation. For example, a large Midwest university wanted to delay processing student admission denial letters for up to seven days after the decision was made. The reason: they wanted to make sure that the student's non-refundable application fee check was cashed before that student received the denial letter in the mail. Apparently, in the past, students had cancelled their checks after they found out that they were denied admission. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 can automatically recalculate the letter generation process schedule to add seven days to the denial letter jobs, ensuring the university has time to cash the checks. Alumni (also called "Advancement" in Banner) letters communicate information about fund-raisers, membership dues, and other charitable event donations. Alumni generate millions of dollars in revenue for universities. To maintain the flow of revenue, the letters must be accurate and sent out as scheduled. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 automates the process and ensures both accuracy and timeliness. 3

4 Check Processing Printing checks needs to be secure, accurate, and prompt. In Banner, there is a complex set of steps that must be completed before the checks get printed. The printing is usually done at a bank with the help of third party software such as evisions IntelliCheck. The pressure to get these steps completed accurately is very high. With Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, all the Banner batch jobs are processed accurately and the checks are printed on time with minimal end-user involvement. If there are any inconsistencies or job failures, Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 immediately sends notifications to the appropriate personnel. Student Billing Student billing is, at best, a very long procedure. If the school has a large number of students and limited server capacity, the processing time can become uncomfortably long. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 automates the process and protects against server overload. The school can use Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 to streamline and automate the process by building an Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 chain. The chain can process all students billing in one pass, or be configured to process students in smaller groups. For example, the chain could be set to run three times, once each for students with last names starting with A - H, I - R, and S - Z. To avoid server overload, student billing can be scheduled to run at off-peak hours. Improving Cross-Departmental Processing In many cases, a SunGard Banner process includes steps that must be completed by more than one user in different departments. When one user completes a step in the process, they call over to the other departments to continue the process. This can result in delays between the steps. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 automates all processes in all departments, eliminating the delays and ensuring processes are completed as scheduled. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4: Preventing Server Overload SunGard Banner solutions and processing are usually spread across many departments in an academic institution, for example Financial Aid, Alumni, and the Registrar. Each department may be responsible for running its own jobs. This can result in two problems: departments may choose to run large reports at the same time (such as end of term), and they may end up running some of the same reports. The result can be overloaded servers. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 can prevent server overload using a combination of features: - By serving as a central scheduler, Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 can promote coordination among the different departments. Personnel can review scheduling forecasts for the entire institution and pinpoint scheduling bottlenecks. They can also spot duplicate runs of the same reports. - When scheduling bottlenecks cannot be avoided, Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 provides "queues" to control the number of jobs that can be submitted to a server at any given time. Limits can be set on the total number of jobs that can be processed on a server at any given time. - Both jobs and queues can be assigned priorities so the most important jobs get processed first. Impromptu reports submitted by individuals can be delayed until all regularly scheduled reports are processed. - Server overload is costly. With Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, server overload can be eliminated from Banner systems. - Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4: Automated Report Distribution - The information contained in reports is useful only when it gets into the hands of staff, faculty, decision makers, and students. Speed up the distribution of information, and the whole operation will become more efficient. Departments operating efficiently can mean faster collection of revenue and lower costs. - Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 provides several output distribution functions that give users fast access to reports: - Immediately after reports are generated, users can view them online from their workstations using the Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 viewer or using an application of their choosing such as Microsoft Word or Excel. Reports do not need to be stored in the Banner database as with the SunGard Banner online viewer. - Users can print reports to a local printer directly from their workstations. - Reports can be sent (usually via ) to any number of users. - Reports can be sent to any number of print devices anywhere in the network. 4

5 - Reports files can be sent automatically to the e~print Reports utility. With e~print Reports, reports in PDF format are sent via the Internet to users connected to the server. Reports can be read within minutes after completion. Report distribution is often an after thought. With Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, it becomes an integral part of the Banner solution. How the Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 Integration Works Each Banner job is represented by a "module" in Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4. The modules are combined into Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 "chains" that model the Banner job streams. The chains can be run by Banner users when needed, or they can be scheduled to run at specific times and on specific days. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 runs Banner jobs by submitting jobs directly into Banner. A special Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 SunGard Banner interface script passes the job parameters, runs the jobs, traps errors, and captures output. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 even works with SunGard Banner security by using Banner logins. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 automates much of the initial setup for SunGard Banner. For example, Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 imports all Banner jobs and printers and creates the corresponding objects in Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4. This can save hours of development time. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 Benefits of Early Implementation If you are considering purchasing SunGard Banner, or have just purchased it, you are aware that implementing Banner is a major undertaking. You can greatly reduce your implementation costs by using Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 from the beginning of the project. It's easy to think of Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 as just a job-scheduling tool that automates Banner processes. But Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 also is a powerful development tool that can be used to: - Automate Banner processes without writing scripts - Automate testing - Document process flows and procedures - Maintain a history and audit trail of production runs - Automate migration from development to test to production environments - Reduce training In short, Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 becomes part of the infrastructure supporting Banner. Script-less Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 greatly reduces, and many times eliminates, the need for developers to write shell, PERL, or batch scripts to automate scheduling, enabling you to deliver SunGard Banner solutions more quickly. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 module and chain building provides an online "point-and-click" interface to model the Banner processes and run the programs. We have taken existing schedules and reduced the original scripts by more than 80%. In fact, this functionality can be extended to the whole development environment to reduce scripting in all projects, not just Banner. It now becomes possible to integrate Banner with other applications in your institution. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 manages the dependencies, thread logic, parameter passing and validation, abort and restart logic, leaving the development team to concentrate on the real functional code. Future maintenance or changes to processes are easy to manage because Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 is object-oriented. This means that you only need to define Banner jobs, printers, logins, and other objects one time. You can then reuse them in as many process flows as needed. If you make a change to an object, that change is automatically applied everywhere that job is used. This can save you a significant amount of development and maintenance time. Using Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, you can model complex Banner processes without having to repeat the coding effort normally associated with scripting. The Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 object methodology, write once and use many times, provides a key tool for rapid development of schedules and integrated applications. 5

6 Automated Testing During development, you must test the Banner procedures you create. For example, you may need to test the letter generation procedure. Without Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, this is a time-consuming manual procedure that someone must complete step-by-step. Manual procedures are always open to human error. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 automates the procedure and frees your development staff to work on other tasks while the test is being run. History and Audit Trail During testing, it is important to track each action taken so that if problems occur, you can determine the cause. If you are running the Banner processes manually, this will require a significant amount of effort to record each step. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 automatically keeps a history of every job run, the parameters that were used, and the output generated at each step. These records are readily available for viewing online and can be printed for reference. Documented Process Flows and Procedures One of the most critical aspects of a SunGard Banner implementation is documentation of the process flows and procedures. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 provides tools that make documentation an integral part of the development process. In Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, "chains" represent process flows. Each step in a chain is represented by a component. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 can display chains graphically, giving you a visual representation of the workflow. By printing the graphic displays, you have a diagram for each workflow. To provide additional information, you can attach written documentation to each chain and component in a chain. The documentation can explain the function of the chain or component, and provide information to operators in case of a problem. Automated Migration One of the more error-prone tasks is migrating procedures from a development environment to a test environment, and subsequently to a production environment. The Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 export and import utilities make migration an error-free, repeatable process. Variables such as database logins, printers, and libraries can be mapped when moving Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 modules and chains to a new environment, eliminating potentially erroneous code changes and reducing the time to deliver new SunGard Banner solutions. For more information on the general features and benefits of Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4, see the Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 white paper titled Beyond Job Scheduling: The UC4 Vision of Enterprise Automation. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 Increases the Return on Your Investment in SunGard Banner You purchased SunGard Banner to streamline your administrative functions and make them more efficient, a critical move if your institution is to remain profitable in these challenging times. Now it's time to take the next step and further improve your ROI by automating batch processing and report generation, balancing the load on your servers, and automating report distribution. If you are just beginning a Banner implementation, streamlining the implementation process will increase overall ROI while shortening your development time significantly. Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 is the clear choice. It is a true enterprise scheduler that is fully integrated with SunGard Banner, enhancing Banner in all critical areas. It provides a development environment that can shorten implementation time. SunGard Higher Education Collaborative Select Member Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4 is the only scheduling solution for Banner that is a SunGard Higher Education Collaborative Select Member. The SunGard Higher Education Collaborative is an industry-leading partner program of technology product and service providers that complement SunGard Higher Education's software, services and technologies to deliver reliable and proven solutions for higher education. 6

7 Companies at the Select level are market leaders that have made significant business and technical commitments to SunGard Higher Education and the institutions it serves. This invitation-only level is afforded to those companies that deliver consistently strong customer service and support and share a complimentary strategy and vision with that of SunGard Higher Education. At this highest partnership level, both SunGard Higher Education and the Collaborative Select Member invest heavily to help colleges and universities worldwide fulfil the vision of the Unified Digital Campus. Representative Customers Below are many of the educational institutions using Banner Enterprise Job Scheduler by UC4. - Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College - Alamo Community College District - Albany State University - Angelo State University - Appalachian State University - Armstrong Atlantic State University - Atlanta Metropolitan College - Auburn University - Augusta State University - Austin Peay State University - Bainbridge College - Brown University - California State University Monterey Bay - Central Connecticut State University - Chattanooga State Tech Community College - Chemeketa Community College - Citrus Community College District - City College of San Francisco - Clayton State University - Cleveland State Community College - Coast Community College District - Coastal Georgia Community College - College of Marin - College of William and Mary - Collin County Community College District - Colorado Community Colleges System - Colorado State University - Columbia State Community College - Columbus State University - Community College of Rhode Island - Cuesta College - Dalton State College - Dartmouth College - Darton College - Delgado Community College - Dyersburg State Community College - East Carolina University - East Georgia College - East Tennessee State University - Eastern Illinois University - Eastern Michigan University - El Paso Community College - Emporia State University - Ferris State University - Florida Atlantic University - Florida Gulf Coast University - Fort Lewis College - Fort Valley State University - Framingham State College - Gainesville State College - George Mason University - George Washington University - Georgia College & State University - Georgia Gwinnett College - Georgia Highlands College - Georgia Southwestern State Univ. - Gordon College - Grand Valley State University - Hampton University - Harding University - Hofstra University - Horry-Georgetown Technical College - Indiana State University - Ithaca College - Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana - J. David Gladstone Institutes - Jackson State Community College - Kennesaw State University - Kent State University - Lamar University - Lander University - Lansing Community College - Macalester College - Macon State College - McGill University - McNeese State University - Middle Georgia College - Middle Tennessee State University 7

8 - Montgomery Community College - Motlow State Community College - Mount San Antonio Comm College District - Nashville State Tech Community College - New College of Florida - New Hampshire Community Technical College - New Mexico State University - North Carolina A&T State University - North Carolina Central University - North Georgia College & State Univ. - Northeast State Tech Community College - Nova Southeastern University - Oberlin College - Oregon State University - Owens Community College - Pace University - Pellissippi State Tech Community College - Pima Community College - Qatar University - Ramapo College of New Jersey - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Rhodes College - Richard Stockton College - Roane State Community College - Rowan University - San Mateo Cmty Comm College Dist - Santa Barbara City College - Savannah State University - Seton Hall University - Siena College - Skidaway Institute of Oceanography - Solano Community College District - South Georgia College - Southern Illinois Univ-Edwardsville - Southern Polytechnic State University - Southwest Tennessee Community College - St. George s University - St. Joseph s University - St. Louis University - SUNY Adirondack Community College - SUNY Alfred University - SUNY Downstate Medical Center - SUNY Geneseo - SUNY Hudson Valley Community College - SUNY Monroe Community College - SUNY Oneonta, College of - SUNY Suffolk County Community College - Tennessee Board of Regents - Tennessee State University - Tennessee Technological University - Texas A&M International University - Texas A&M University System - Texas Christian University - Texas Tech University System - Université Du Quebec a Montreal - University of Alabama - University of Alaska - University of California, Davis - University of Hawaii - University of Illinois - University of Maryland at Baltimore - University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ - University of Memphis - University of Montevallo - University of New Mexico - University of North Alabama - University of North Carolina-Greensboro - University of North Carolina-Wilmington - University of North Florida - University of Northern Colorado - University Of Notre Dame - University of Ottawa - University of San Francisco - University of South Florida - University of Southern Indiana - University of St. Thomas - University of Texas at Dallas - University Of Texas-Pan American - University of Texas-San Antonio - University of Toledo - University of West Florida - University of West Georgia - University of Wyoming - University System Of Georgia - University System of New Hampshire - Utah State University - Valencia Community College - Virginia Commonwealth University - Virginia State University - Volunteer State Community College - Walters State Community College - Waycross College - Wayne State University - Western Carolina University - Western Michigan University - Westfield State College 8

9 - Wichita State University - William Paterson University - Winston-Salem State University - Wright State University - Youngstown State University About UC4 Software UC4 Software is a leading provider of workload automation and IT process optimization solutions that ensure core business processes and enterprise information systems run faster, more accurately and without interruption. More than 1,600 companies worldwide have successfully enhanced application processing performance and improved IT efficiency using UC4 s business acceleration solutions. Customers include American Suzuki Motor Corporation, Cadbury, ebay, Eastman Kodak, General Electric, Mattel, McGraw Hill, Panasonic, Robert Bosch, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, T-Systems and Verizon. For more information, please visit Contact UC4 Software In the US at (877) (toll-free) In Europe at info@uc4.com 9